Betwixt curse and gift

I say goodbye
but I don’t really feel
you’re fully gone
down that path
I can’t follow, yet

I said hello
to you for all those years
when your black doom
beckoned you
away down the road

I had hoped I
would be able to learn
what I could of
you, your art
while ever I could

So much not learned
so many things not said
Feeling that I
wasn't "it"
wasn't adequate

I’m grateful yet
I’m still learning from you
hearing echos
of times spent
together, apart

Grieving began
with the curse being found
But gifts live on
in mem’ry,
my heart and my voice

Merry Christmas to all - 2010

Twas the night before Christmas
And just like a louse,
I sneak open my laptop
and grab for the mouse.

A merry hot fire is
crackling and popping
on the screen of my TV
so it won’t be stopping

As I ponder the evening
with tired brain and eyes
I think of my folks
that are spread far and wide

So here’s cheers to you all
on a night merry and bright
Happy Christmas to all
and (YAWN) good night!

Huckleberry Hill, Highway 101, Oregon Coast

     'Tween Newport and Seal Rock, Oregon, November 25, 2010

Walking on the beach
November 25
Skies above are grey
Sea below alive

A raft of sea lions
Is idly floating by
Seagulls land to watch
Score a meal on the sly

Eagles cry from sky and trees
Hummer's buzzing dive
In spite of freezing storm
That threatens our house to rive

Agates glisten on the beach
Clams as fossils hard
Bedrock juts like giant spine
An ancient land, a shard

Oxygen Deprived

I ponder the time I spend in bed,
Coughing up a lung, a gore I dread.
Why can't I use this extra time
To put down words in prose, in rhyme?

I stuttered my starts, nothing would click
Until, days later, it started to stick.
I find my pen can take off again
I chalk it up to lack of oxygen.



~~~~~~~~~~~

It's been an interesting exercise in observation noting the lack of mental fortitude that comes with lung congestion. I've just wheezed my way through my first chest cold in I don't know how many years, but I would have happily gone longer without the experience. I realized that I was mentally glacial in some small corner of my mind when I had to ask questions multiple times because I couldn't remember the response. I'm sure that certain critters made off with a few extra meals because I couldn't remember if I had fed them or not.

I noticed the mental impairment because it came on quickly and I was getting frustrated with myself. I cannot imagine not noticing a cognitive decline. But, I am assuming a person will remember how full their cup was at the beginning. I understand that early stage Alzheimer's sufferers do notice a change of some kind and may act out on their frustrations until ... they forget.

Eat right, drink plenty of fluids, move, use your brain, breathe.

Matter of Trust

Grunting I chunter, growl, complain,
I stomp my way on down the lane.
Pound stupid, because penny smart
Makes big oil leak money.  I find a start
I make to show how I care,
It turns out the Gulf can use my hair.

Matter of Trust

Interspecies Contagion

A warm and sunny day
We're driving in the city
Off to do some errands
Boy, the day is pretty

Sunshine in the windshield
I'm feeling kinda groggy
A yawn soon splits my face
Look, the same with doggy

Slipping into spring

Slipping into spring is about
Escaping winter's glower

The sun shines overhead
And all the world's a-flower

This year is a bit different
My life's quiet from the hype

Of work and hurly burly
And so I write this tripe

April 2010

Writing blockades

housecleaning, organizing, tidying, lightening
the loads of laundry never end
cooking, freaking, hiding, frightening
houseguests space to whom to lend

vacuuming, washing, scrubbing, tossing
recycling compost to the flock
working, dusting, never sitting
to break the lock of writer's block